A Kabbalistic Commentary on the Bismillāh A ص N. Wahid Azal & N.U.R.-FSO © 2020 Praise be unto God Who at each moment reveals the logoic mysteries of the Book of Its Cosmos via the science of the numbers and letters. And salutations and blessings be upon the pentagrammic loci of Its continual Theophanic Manifestations from before and after! Amen! In Arabic the abjad numerical value of “In the Name of God the Compassionate, the Merciful!” ( ) ﺴﻢ ﷲ ّاﻟﺮﲪﻦ ّاﻟﺮﺣﲓis 786. First note that 7 + 8 + 6 = 21 = ( ֶא ְהי ֶהehyeh) ("I AM"). In the operation of AIQ BKR (i.e. the gematria of the nine chambers) this number is reduced to 3. 3 is gimel ( )גin Hebrew and jīm ( )جin Arabic. The number three on the metaphysical plane in itself represents the i. the Divine world ()اﻟﻌﺎﱂ اﻻٕﻟﻬﻴﺔ, ii. the world of the divine Command ( )اﻟﻌﺎﱂ ا ٔﻣﺮand iii. the creation ()اﳋﻠﻖ. Gimel is claimed by some kabbalists to be derived from the word "gemul", which in Hebrew means both the giving of reward as well as the giving of punishment. Gimel ( )גִּימֶלalso means action and is a word for "camel." The camel, according to some sources, is the animal associated with the Asherah (ש ָׁרה ֵ ) ֲא, i.e. a sacred tree or pole wherein the descent of the Shekinah is held to occur. The individuals responsible for writing the books of Deuteronomy and Leviticus were against the Israelites worshiping God at trees or sacred groves, due to the obvious pagan Canaanite-Assyrian pedigree of such a practice.1 Nevertheless, and even though derived from an originary Assyro-Babylonian nexus, this was a common practice of the ancient Israelites in reverence to Moses' ( )عexperience at the Burning Bush at Sina’i where the Shekinah of the N. Wahid Azal & N.U.R.-FSO © 2020 Name (HaShem) descended and gave Him His mission to save the children of Israel from Pharaoh while revealing the Law of Heaven to this chosen humanity for that specific period in history -- which, per the Bayān, was a rank, together with its Law, which was altogether abrogated in the succeeding divine dispensation -- and with it bringing these Israelites back to the land of their forefathers, Jacob ( )عand Abraham ()ع. The "I Am" (ehyeh) as such is the theophany of the archangel Metatron who is the Supreme Manifestation of the Shekinah and the Voice Moses ( )عconversed with on Sina’i Who is the gimel/jīm –- and thus the manifestation of God’s action (gimel) as the dispenser of divine legislative rewards and punishments (gemul) in the spatiotemporal world -- which is the number 3. Note also how in the Tarot the letter gimel is associated with the Major Arcana card (ATU II) of the High Priestess Who is the physical embodiment or spatiotemporal manifestation of the Shekinah on earth. As for the seven letters of the bismillāh (“In the Name of God”) () ﺴﻢ ﷲ: each of these letters represents one of the seven divine creative attributive imprints ()ﺧﺼﺎل اﻟﺴ"ﺒﻌﺔ. The letter Bāʾ ( )بrepresents the Divine Will (ﺔ$% )اﳌﺸwhich is the locus for the manifestation of the Divine Name ‘the Originator’ (al-bārīʾ) ()ﻟاﺒﺎريء. The letter Sīn ( )سis the Divine Volition ( )ٕاﻻرادةwhich is the locus for the manifestation of the Divine Name ‘the Peace’ (as-salām) ( )اﻟ ّﺴﻼمthat is the sakīna (ﻨﺔ1 )اﻟّﺴﻜ-- or Shekinah. The letter Mīm ( )مis the Divine Determination ()اﻟﻘﺪر which is the locus for the manifestation of the Divine Name ‘the Sovereign Owner’ (al-mālik) (5)اﳌﺎ. The letter Alif (6ٔ) represents the Divine Authorization ( )اﻟﻘﻀﺎءwhich is the locus for the manifestation of the Divine Name ‘the First’ N. Wahid Azal & N.U.R.-FSO © 2020 (al-awwal) ()ا ٔ ّول. The first Lām ( )لis the Divine Realization ( )ٕاﻻﻣﻀﺎءwhich is the locus for the manifestation of the Divine Name ‘the Magnanimous’ ()ا;ﻠﻄﻴﻒ. The ّ ٔ )اwhich is the locus for the second Lām ( )لis the Allotted Time (=ﻞ manifestation of the Divine Name ‘the Irradiator’ (al-lamīʾ) ( ;)ا;ﻠﻤﻴﻊand the Hāʾ ( )هis the cosmic Book (ﺎبA )اﻟﻜwhich is the locus for the manifestation of the Divine Name ‘the Guide’ (al-hādī) ()اﻟﻬﺎدي. Now, the two attributes following the bismillāh (“In the Name of God”) (– ) ﺴﻢ ﷲ- that is, ar-raḥmān (“the Compassionate”) ( )ّاﻟﺮﲪﻦand ar-raḥīm (“the Merciful”) ( )ّاﻟﺮﺣﲓ-- both are related by their etymological root/maṣdar to raḥim ( )رﰘwhich means ‘womb’. As such one of the denotations of ar-raḥmān arraḥīm (“the Compassionate, the Merciful”) ( ) ّاﻟﺮﲪﻦ ّاﻟﺮﺣﲓindicates the All-High in the station of the Mother of all creation. Ar-raḥmān (“the Compassionate”) ( )ّاﻟﺮﲪﻦrepresents the Divine Womb and all things in their potential state[s] gestating within this Divine Womb as the immutable archetypal forms (ﺑﺘﺔF )ﻋﻴﺎن “…which have [as yet] not whiffed from the taste of existence…”2 Ar-raḥīm (“the Merciful”) ( )ّاﻟﺮﺣﲓrepresents their state of actualization and existentiation, the substrate upon whose actuality and existence continually depends the influx of the Divine Mercy ()رﲪﺔ اﻻٕﻟﻬﻴﺔ. The twelve letters of ar-raḥmān ar-raḥīm (“the Compassionate, the Merciful”) ( )ا ل ر ح م ن ا ل ر ح ي م( ) ّاﻟﺮﲪﻦ ّاﻟﺮﺣﲓare associated with the twelve letters of the tahlīl (i.e. “there is no god but God” lā ilāha illā allāh) ( ل )ا ا ل ه ا ل ا ا ل ل هwhich in the realm of the Theophany of Persons are associated with each of the Twelve Imāms ( )عWho are, as it were, the mothers of the true initiates. N. Wahid Azal & N.U.R.-FSO © 2020 The four words composing the bismillāh, i.e. “In the Name of God the Compassionate, the Merciful!” () ﺴﻢ ﷲ ّاﻟﺮﲪﻦ ّاﻟﺮﺣﲓ, correspond to the four phrases of the Tasbīḥ al-Fāṭima (( )عThe Theophanic Praise of Fāṭima), i.e. “Glory be to God and praise be unto God and there is no god but God and God is the Most Great!” ( ﺎنKﺳ"ﺒ ﻛﱪ6ٔ ٕ ّاﻻ ﷲ و ﷲO و ﻻ ٕاP )ﷲ و اﶵﺪsubhān’ ullāh wa’l-ḥamduli’Llāh wa lā ilāha illā allāh wa allāhu akbar! These four words in turn correspond to the four worlds within the cosmic Tree which are lāhūt (the Divine realm), jabarūt (the Empyreans of Power), malakūt (the Angelic world) and nāsūt (the material world) that correspond to the four worlds of the sephirotic kabbalah which are atziluth (the World of Emanation), briah (the world of the Creation), yetzirah (the world of Formation) and assiyah (the world of Action). These in turn have their archetypal correspondences with the four elements that are Air, Fire, Water and earth. So the bism (“In the Name of”) ( ) ﺴﻢis ‘glorification’ (ﺢ1SﺴT) and is associated with lāhūt (the Divine realm) that is the atziluth (the World of Emanation) –- and which the Imāms ( )عdesignate as being the World of the Mother of the Book (ﺎبAﺎﱂ ُ ّام اﻟﻜU) –- and the element Air (= white). This first correspondence is also associated in the subtle physiology with the BlazeFlux ( )ﻓﺆادthat is equivalent to existence ()وﺟﻮد. Next, the word “God” ( )ﷲis ‘praise’ ( )ﲢﻤﻴﺪand is associated with jabarūt (the Empyreans of Power) that is the briah (the world of the Creation) -- and which the Imāms ( )عdesignate as being the First World of the Primordial Particles of Light (\ول ّ ﺎﱂ ذ ّراتU) which is also known by its alternative title of the First World of the Luminous Silhouettes (\ول ّ ﺎﱂ \ﺷ"ﺒﺎحU) –- and the element Fire (= yellow). This second correspondence is associated in the subtle physiology with the Spirit ( )روحand N. Wahid Azal & N.U.R.-FSO © 2020 essence (ﲔU/)ﻣﺎﻫﻴـــﺔ. Ar-raḥmān (“the Compassionate”) ( )ّاﻟﺮﲪﻦis ‘testification to the divine unity’ ( )ﲥﻠﻴﻞand is associated with the malakūt (the Angelic world) that is the yetzirah (the world of Formation) -- and which the Imāms ( )عdesignate as being the second World of the Primordial Particles of Light which is ّ ) –- and the bifurcated into a celestial heaven (ﻠﻴﻴﻮنU) and a celestial hell (ﲭﲔ element Water (= green) and prima materia ()ﻫﻴﻮﱃ. This second correspondence is associated in the subtle physiology with the soul ()ﻧﻔﺲ. Finally, ar-raḥīm (“the Merciful”) ( )ّاﻟﺮﺣﲓis the ‘magnification’ (ﲑkﻜl) and is associated with nāsūt (the material world), or the Dominion (mulk), that is the assiyah (the world of Action) which is associated with the element of the earth (= red), the composite body ( )ﺟﺴﺪand form ()ﺻﻮرة. Nineteen letters in total constitute the bismillāh, i.e. “In the Name of God the Compassionate, the Merciful!” () ﺴﻢ ﷲ ّاﻟﺮﲪﻦ ّاﻟﺮﺣﲓ. 19 in Hebrew is the gematria of the name of Eve (chavah) ( ) ַח ָוּהwhich in itself is derived from em kol chai ( אם כל )חי, i.e. “the All-Living Mother,” that instantiates the manifesting power of the cosmos which is cryptically referred to as “the Bride” that represents the sphere of Malkuth ( = מלכות496 = 19) in the sephirotic Tree of Life. In His commentary on the sūrah of the Cow (2), the Primal Point indicates that the transfiguration of Eve ( )عin the Garden of Eden was in fact the Self-Disclosure ّ ) of Fāṭima ( )عas the Tree of Reality (ﻘﺔ1)ﴭﺮة اﳊﻘ: Fāṭima ( )عWho is the mother (ﲡﲇ to eleven of the Twelve Imāms ( )عas well as the ‘Mother of Her Father’ (ﳱﺎs6ٔ ) ُ ّام and the “Bride” to the first amongst these twelve vicegerent providential guides ( )ﻟاوﻴﺎء ﷲWho is ʿAlī ()ع. Finally, and most importantly of all, in the dispensation of the Bayān the nineteen letters of the bismillāh represent the N. Wahid Azal & N.U.R.-FSO © 2020 Theophany of Persons that is the First Unity (\ول ّ ﺪt)اﻟﻮا, i.e. the Primal Point and His Eighteen Letters of the Living Who are the 'Return' to the world of the Fourteen Infallibles ( )عand the Four Gates together with the Theophanic Self-Disclosure of the Primal Will within the Celestial Earth of the Pentagrammic Talisman of ʿAlī Muḥammad Shīrāzī, the Bāb. 2 Mulk (Dominion) 172 BE 413 1 Note here the rabbinic corruption of ‘Asherah’ as Astarte and their association of Astarte qua ‘the Morning Star’, i.e. Venus, with Lilith due to Asherah’s original association with the Sumero-Babylonian-Assyrian mother goddess Ishtar, not to mention its later Christian association with Lucifer qua satan. 2 Ibn ʿArabī, The Bezels of Wisdom (fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam). N. Wahid Azal & N.U.R.-FSO © 2020
